Cigarette Lighter Solar Trickle Chargers?
Discussion
My Elise seems to be having trouble keeping its charge when its left on the driveway. It's a daily driver but if I'm away on business I might not drive it all week, and I regularly go all weekend without driving it. It doesn't seem to like that sort of treatment very much!
I've got a trickle charger, but the Caterham's hogging the garage, leaving the Lotus on the driveway. Does anyone know how good those cigarette lighter solar ones are? Specifically for an Elise?
I've got a trickle charger, but the Caterham's hogging the garage, leaving the Lotus on the driveway. Does anyone know how good those cigarette lighter solar ones are? Specifically for an Elise?
Might have to wire up the cigarette lighter differently though?
The Elise lighter socket works through the ignition i.e the key must be in the accessory or ON position to be be used. In the Exige its a power socket and operates independent to the ignition. I don't think a solar trickle charger will simply work by connecting it to an Elise cigarette lighter.
T
The Elise lighter socket works through the ignition i.e the key must be in the accessory or ON position to be be used. In the Exige its a power socket and operates independent to the ignition. I don't think a solar trickle charger will simply work by connecting it to an Elise cigarette lighter.
T
Tango7 said:
Might have to wire up the cigarette lighter differently though?
The Elise lighter socket works through the ignition i.e the key must be in the accessory or ON position to be be used. In the Exige its a power socket and operates independent to the ignition. I don't think a solar trickle charger will simply work by connecting it to an Elise cigarette lighter.
T
Might be different on later model Elises - mine's an '04 S2 and I'm able to charge mine with an Accumate via the power socket (not really a cigarette lighter as mine has no heating element!) and ignition key isn't required...from what I recall, the power sockets are two-way.The Elise lighter socket works through the ignition i.e the key must be in the accessory or ON position to be be used. In the Exige its a power socket and operates independent to the ignition. I don't think a solar trickle charger will simply work by connecting it to an Elise cigarette lighter.
T
Cheers
Rich
Tango7 said:
Might have to wire up the cigarette lighter differently though?
The Elise lighter socket works through the ignition i.e the key must be in the accessory or ON position to be be used. In the Exige its a power socket and operates independent to the ignition. I don't think a solar trickle charger will simply work by connecting it to an Elise cigarette lighter.
T
Might be different on later model Elises - mine's an '04 S2 and I'm able to charge mine with an Accumate via the power socket (not really a cigarette lighter as mine has no heating element!) and ignition key isn't required...from what I recall, the power sockets are two-way.The Elise lighter socket works through the ignition i.e the key must be in the accessory or ON position to be be used. In the Exige its a power socket and operates independent to the ignition. I don't think a solar trickle charger will simply work by connecting it to an Elise cigarette lighter.
T
Cheers
Rich
Firstly I'll confirm what others have said it that my 06 111R power socket will accept charge or distribute charge without the igntion being on in any state.
As for the maplin solar chargers - I think they are great. Travelling with work etc I may have to leave the Elise at home but the solar charger keeps it going a treat. £10 of value if you ask me.
Only issue I ever have is leaving it indoors before I go away but that's not the charger's fault just the charger's owner is a muppet.
As for the maplin solar chargers - I think they are great. Travelling with work etc I may have to leave the Elise at home but the solar charger keeps it going a treat. £10 of value if you ask me.
Only issue I ever have is leaving it indoors before I go away but that's not the charger's fault just the charger's owner is a muppet.
henrycrun said:
I bought the £10 Maplin one with the blue led but was rather dismayed to find that it can peak at over 24V. Even the spec says 17.5V. I haven't had the courage to leave it on the car...
don't worry about it, it's never going to get close to 24V when there's a battery connected to it....open cct voltage is not very relevant
have used the £30 maplins one with mixed results... mine is in a garage with only a small frosted glass window are rear so masticed the thing to the window to take all available light (it doesn't need direct light). over winter months it wasn't really cutting the mustard and after 2 weeks it was not starting, but have recently left for over 3 weeks with no problem starting at all (guess due to longer daylight hours)
i use the croc clips direct to the battery (which have a splitter socket so you can leave the clips attached & unplg the charger to drive away) was going to mount the charger on top of the roof but reckon ghte theiving scummers where my car is parked would have it away! ha ha
i use the croc clips direct to the battery (which have a splitter socket so you can leave the clips attached & unplg the charger to drive away) was going to mount the charger on top of the roof but reckon ghte theiving scummers where my car is parked would have it away! ha ha
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